Burrowing Owls (Athene cunicularia) take up residence in playground at Nightingale Elementary School in Stockton, California. Students and teachers are taking this opportunity to appreciate them. "There are not many of them left, because people like to throw trash in their holes," second-grader Anaiah Morris said of the burrowing owls. "We like to go out there and keep the playground clean for them."

90-million-year-old dinosaur discovered in Patagonia, providing more evidence linking dinosaurs to birds. Buitreraptor gonzalezorum is related to the Velociraptor and is about the size of a very large rooster, but with a long head and very long tail. It is the most complete small theropod (carnivorous dinosaur) ever discovered in South America.

California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, signs bill designating 31 miles of Cache Creek in Yolo and Lake counties as a state wild, scenic and recreational river. The bill will prevent dams and diversions from being built from just below Clear Lake Dam to Camp Haswell, in the upper Capay Valley, as well as on the creek's north fork downstream from Highway 20.

California Condors (Gymnogyps californianus) released at the Baja California peninsula in 2002 are expanding their range to San Diego County, California. It was expected to take them eight to ten years to expand their range to the north and join the Southern California population, but they are starting to move north towards the border. The last time one of the endangered birds was spotted in the wild in San Diego County was in 1910.